Friday, April 23, 2021
CapitalPress.com 3
NOAA: Northwest’s ‘normal’ temps rising
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
The climate for the
Northwest and most of the
contiguous U.S. has become
slightly warmer in the past
decade, the National Oce-
anic
and Atmospheric
Administration
reported
Tuesday.
The
warming
was
widespread, according to
NOAA’s National Centers
for Environmental Infor-
mation, though Montana
and the Dakotas bucked the
trend and slightly cooled.
“There are some areas
that actually have cooler
temperature normals, espe-
cially in the spring in the
north-central U.S.,” said
Michael Palecki, manager
of NOAA’s climate normals.
NOAA updates every
10 years what’s considered
“normal” weather. Statisti-
cians analyzed temperature
and precipitation readings
from thousands of weather
stations between 1991 and
2020.
NOAA will release the
new normals May 4. Pal-
ecki and other NOAA offi -
cials held a conference call
with reporters to hit some
highlights.
Because two decades
overlap, the new climatic
normals aren’t that much dif-
ferent. Still, the new norms
likely mean fewer seasons,
months and days with tem-
peratures “above normal.”
Annual mean tempera-
tures in Washington gen-
erally increased by up to
0.5 degree Fahrenheit,
though some places warmed
slightly more and some did
not change.
Oregon, Idaho and North-
ern California had a similar
pattern, though patches of
Southern Idaho warmed by
more than 1 degree.
The warming was not
uniform throughout the sea-
sons. Normal high tempera-
tures in April and Octo-
ber in much of Washington,
Oregon and Idaho will
now be slightly cooler than
previously.
“Not every month in
every location in the U.S.
is always warming despite
the fact that we generally
are warming in our climate,”
Palecki said.
Warming shows up more
clearly by comparing 1991-
2020 temperatures to early
20th century normals, he
said. The annual mean tem-
perature has increased in
every state since 1901-1930.
“There’s a huge diff er-
ence in temperatures over
time as we go from cooler
climates in the early part
of the 20th century,” Pal-
ecki said. “We’re really see-
ing the fi ngerprints of cli-
mate change in the new
normals.”
Roughly speaking, the
eastern half the U.S. is get-
ting wetter, while the west-
ern half is getting drier,
though there are exceptions.
Western Washington and
the Idaho Panhandle became
wetter in the past decade,
as did Montana and the
Dakotas.
Much of Eastern Oregon
joined California and the
Southwest to form a large
region that became drier.
The World Meteorologi-
cal Organization on Monday
released its annual global
climate report.
Global mean tempera-
tures in 2020 were approx-
imately 2.16 degrees Fahr-
enheit
above
baseline
temperatures from 1850
to 1900, according to the
report.
Northern Eurasia was
especially hot, but some
areas were cooler than aver-
age, including Western Can-
ada, parts of Brazil, north-
ern India and southeastern
Australia.
Changes coming to Washington
farmworker housing rules
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
EO Media Group/Bend Bulletin
Oregon State Capitol in Salem
Oregon water rights
enforcement bill
gains traction
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
SALEM — A bill that
would alter the process for
enforcing Oregon water
rights has gained trac-
tion after supporters scaled
back changes that adversely
aff ected junior irrigators.
The original version of
House Bill 2244 would
have partially eliminated
the “automatic stay” provi-
sion of Oregon water law,
under which junior irriga-
tors can fi le lawsuits to pre-
vent water shut-off s.
A revised version of the
bill would retain the “auto-
matic stay” provision but
accelerate the legal process
to avoid prolonged uncer-
tainty about water rights
enforcement.
“We know if we don’t
handle these quickly, either
the fi sh die or the crops die,”
said Rep. Marty Wilde,
D-Eugene.
A vote on HB 2244 is
scheduled for the House
fl oor on April 20 after the
House Water Committee
approved the bill 5-3 with a
“do pass” recommendation.
The automatic stay pro-
vision has come under crit-
icism in recent years by the
Klamath Tribes, who’ve
argued it’s eff ectively been
used to thwart the enforce-
ment of their “time imme-
morial” water rights.
Litigation takes longer
than the irrigation season,
allowing junior users to con-
tinue diverting water despite
the tribes’ “water call” for
enforcement action, accord-
ing to critics.
The farm industry has
defended the automatic stay
as protecting due process
for junior irrigators who
disagree with the Oregon
Water Resources Depart-
ment’s fi ndings that they’ve
infringed on senior water
rights.
For example, the auto-
matic stay provision was
invoked when groundwa-
ter irrigators disagreed with
OWRD’s claims that wells
were interfering with sur-
face water fl ows.
Proposals to eliminate or
curtail the automatic stay
were debated during the
2019 and 2020 legislative
sessions but died in commit-
tee upon adjournment.
The amended version of
HB 2244 that’s headed for
a House vote creates a spe-
cial procedure for disputes
related to in-stream water
rights held by tribes and
state agencies.
The automatic stay only
becomes eff ective once the
junior irrigator actually fi les
a “proof of service” that
OWRD was served with a
lawsuit. The agency must
notify aff ected tribes within
fi ve days.
The OWRD may also
override the automatic stay
if it causes “substantial pub-
lic harm” but the junior irri-
gator can challenge this
denial in court within 21
days.
“That does put a little
more burden on the junior
who is petitioning but not an
inappropriate one or a dif-
fi cult one to meet,” Wilde
said of the proposed proce-
dure. “We’re not changing
anyone’s substantive rights.
It’s just about speeding up
the process so that everyone
gets a quicker answer.”
Washington state regula-
tors say they plan to loosen
COVID-related rules for
housing farmworkers, elimi-
nating twice-daily checks on
infected farmworkers by a
health-care professional.
The house calls, not
required for the elderly in
long-term care facilities, are
among the emergency rules
set by the Health Depart-
ment and Labor and Indus-
tries in May.
The Washington Farm
Bureau and H-2A guest-
worker provider Wafl a are
suing the agencies, claiming
the emergency rules have
overstayed their usefulness,
reduced housing capac-
ity and made unreasonable
demands on farms.
A Yakima County Supe-
rior Court judge was sched-
uled to hear the claims Tues-
day. The state agencies say
special COVID-safety rules
are still necessary, but con-
cede in court fi lings that they
will be changed.
“We call it a win,” Farm
Bureau CEO John Stuhl-
miller said Monday. “We’re
just hoping the agencies will
use science and match up the
Capital Press File
Brender Creek migrant farmworker housing in Cash-
mere, Wash., shortly before it opened in 2015. State
agencies say they will revise COVID-related housing
rules.
regulations with reality and
see what needs to remain, if
anything.”
The agencies imposed the
rules last spring as the state
moved to regulate business
and personal aff airs. The
rules required that workers
in bunk-bed housing must
be isolated in groups no
larger than 15 people.
The agencies say they
will have new rules by May
8 that recognize workers are
being vaccinated.
The agencies have not
made public any proposal,
but a draft rule drops the
twice-a-day house calls in
favor of a daily phone call
to patients, according to the
Health Department’s chief
science offi cer, Dr. Scott
Lindquist.
In a court declaration,
Lindquist acknowledged a
shortage of medical profes-
sionals in rural areas.
The draft rule also
removes the requirement
that infected workers be
kept within 20 minutes of
advanced life-support emer-
gency medical services,
according to Lindquist.
Stuhlmiller said he hoped
the agencies will repeal the
emergency rules entirely,
leaving in place pre-pan-
demic rules meant to pre-
vent sicknesses from spread-
ing in farmworker housing.
The state agencies con-
tend in court documents that
emergency rules are still
needed, though modifi ed as
health experts learn more
about the virus.
“Farmworkers
liv-
ing in congregate settings
are especially vulnera-
ble to COVID,” Lindquist
declared.
Lindquist cited a surge in
coronavirus cases between
Dec. 8 and Jan. 6 in Yakima,
Chelan and Douglas coun-
ties, which have a high num-
ber of farmworkers.
Wafl a CEO Dan Fazio
said the winter surge
occurred when seasonal
farmworker housing was
vacant.
“He’s talking about fl are
ups in the community due
to Christmas. It’s absolutely
irrelevant to the discus-
sion,” Fazio said. “There’s
no scientifi c basis for (Lind-
quist’s) statement.”
A Health Department
spokeswoman said out-
breaks last spring and the
spread of the virus in close
quarters led the state to
conclude farmworkers in
congregate housing were
vulnerable.
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